血雨

The severed arm crashes onto a Rukongai rooftop as Jidanbo howls in agony, leaving Ichigo and Uryu stunned by what the captain just did. Gin praises the giant for still propping the gate up one-handed, calling him Soul Society's mightiest before dismissing him as a failed gatekeeper. Yoruichi catches up and urgently warns that facing a captain is suicide for the unready group. When Jidanbo tries to explain that he lost and therefore opened the gate, Gin coolly informs him that gatekeepers who lose are supposed to die.

Ichigo lunges anyway and is shoved back, then aims Zangetsu at the captain and demands to know why he intrudes on a settled fight. Asking Orihime to tend the giant's wound, he brands Gin a coward for butchering a helpless opponent and vows to cut him down. Gin, amused, connects the orange hair and oversized sword to the name Ichigo Kurosaki and decides that is one more reason to keep him out. Backing away, he unleashes Shinso, whose blade shoots forward, and Ichigo blocks with the flat of his sword but is launched into Jidanbo, sending both tumbling into the Rukongai as the gate drops and Gin bids them goodbye.

Gin taunts and threatens the crippled Jidanbo, then identifies Ichigo by his hair and blade. His extending Shinso repels Ichigo's counterattack, driving the boy and the giant back outside just before the gate crashes closed, denying the group entry through the western route.

Placed in volume nine of the Soul Society arc, the installment was adapted into episode 22, The Man who Hates Shinigami. Its Japanese title reads Chi ame, rendered as Rain of Blood, while Viz Media localized it as Crimson Rain. The scene marks the reader's first look at a captain's Shikai in action.